What sensor width should I enter in a depth-of-field app for a Sony A33?
Asked 9/14/2015
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My depth-of-field app asks for sensor width. The Sony A33 specifications list the image format as 23.4 × 15.6 mm. Should I enter 23.4 mm exactly, or round to the nearest available setting? If I have to choose slightly above or below, which is better?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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Either value that close to the actual measurement will be fine. Much more important is making sure the app also knows the correct display size and viewing distance you intend to use. Those factors, which are often assumed to be a specific value and any deviation from those assumptions is ignored, are much more frequently the cause of invalid results when calculating Depth of Field.
Your question appears to reflect the common misconception that everything within the Depth of Field (DoF) is equally in focus. This is not the case at all. There is only one plane that is in focus for any position of your lens' focus mechanism.
In a way, depth-of-field is an illusion. Everything in front of or behind the point of focus is out of focus to one degree or another. What we call DoF is the area where things look, to our eyes, like they are in focus. This is based on the ability of the human eye to resolve certain minute differences at a particular distance. If the slightly out-of-focus blur is smaller than our eye's capability to resolve the detail then it appears to be in focus. When you magnify a portion of an image by making it larger or moving closer to it you allow your eye to see details that before were too close together to be seen by your eyes as separate pieces of the image.
Since things are gradually blurrier the further they are from the point of focus, as you gradually magnify the image the perceived depth of field gets narrower as the near and far points where your eyes can resolve fine details moves closer to the focal plane. That is why DoF calculations must include the display size, viewing distance, and acuity of the viewer's vision in order to give a meaningful result.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
11y ago
0
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Use 23.4 mm if the app allows a custom value. If it only offers preset sizes, picking the nearest value above or below will make little practical difference.
For depth-of-field calculations, a tiny difference like this is usually far less important than the app’s other assumptions—especially viewing distance, display/print size, and circle-of-confusion defaults. Those factors often have a bigger effect on the result than rounding the sensor width by a fraction of a millimeter.
Also, remember that depth of field is only an approximation of what appears acceptably sharp. Only one plane is truly in perfect focus; everything in front of and behind it becomes progressively less sharp. So treat the app’s output as a guide, not an exact boundary.
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